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Showing posts from June, 2009

One Prayer Interview

Over on the LifeChurch: Swerve blog they are interviewing pastors who have been participating with One Prayer this year. I think this is an awesome way to get to know some leaders better... so I figured I'd answer the same questions that they are asking.... 1. What is the biggest leadership lesson you’ve learned over the past year? This year, God has really been showing me that leading is hard! And it may not win you a lot of friends :) There is such a delicate balance between leading people and pleasing people... Luke 12:48 is really hitting home these days, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." I'm learning more and more when it's time to push God's plan forward... and when it's time to let everyone around me catch up... and praying that I'm doing well with everything that God has entrusted to me :) 2. What is God showing you personally? God is R

Crazy Love!

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Gee... this one post a week is getting sad... gotta get the writing juices flowing again :) Just started reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This is the kind of book that really gets my heart pumping. How am I really letting my love for God and his love for me to radically transform my life? Am I quick to just give God my todo list... or do I spend enough time listening for his voice and his plan for my life and ministry? My wife and I are doing this book as part of our personal devotion time. We're praying a lot for God's love to make even more of a difference in our lives! This is going to be part of our focus at LifeSpring during the summer as well. We're going to be studying the book of Mark. Why? Because I really want us to understand the heart of God by looking at how Jesus lived out his live and his ministry. Jesus said "if you've seen me, you've seen the Father". I praying that this examination on the crazy love of Jesus, a love so c

I'm NO Writer!

Wow! I'm really being stretched and challenged this week. I do love that... but this one is REALLY highlighting one of my biggest weaknesses. And that weakness is the fact that I'm a terrible writer! I'm currently working on a paper for my seminary class on Biblical Interpretation... Researching and writing papers is probably the hardest way for me to learn. My brain doesn't process information that way... I've always done the poorest in classes that require a lot of reading and writing . I like to think it's because I'm bilingual - which means I'm bad at writing in both French and English :-) I am definitely a learn by doing kind of guy. I learn by playing with things, taking them apart and putting them into practice in my life. I learn by trying and making mistakes. I learn by being dropped into the fire or the lion's pit and then getting out of it. Sitting in front of Microsoft Word with a stack of books on my desk and wrestling with the E

Coffee Time Tonight

If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook it's probably no surprise that I like coffee. I'm always available to get to know people and chat over a cup o' Joe. I think I've had my best theological and ministry discussions over coffee (or after a game of Warhammer!). Tonight and for the next 2 weeks, Danielle and I will be having a coffee and tea drop-in open house so the people of LifeSpring can come on by and get to know us better. We're very excited about this church that God has brought us to and we're looking forward to getting to know everyone even more. The drop in is from 7pm to 9pm. Looking forward to seeing you here.

One Prayer

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I'm really excited that LifeSpring is going to be a part of One Prayer 2009! One Prayer started out of the heart of the leaders at LifeChurch.tv that the churches of the world would be the answer to Jesus' prayer in Luke 17:20-24, that we would be one! In 2008, God worked in amazing ways at 2 million believers stood together pray, fast, learn, and love others. This year their going it again with the theme of "God is...". What was pretty amazing was the fact that we already had the month of June schedule with a teaching series called "Knowing God is..." and this was booked last year long before we knew anything about One Prayer! How cool is that?!??! I'm excited to be joining over 1600 churches around the world as we look at who God is and how that should make an extraordinary difference in our lives and in the lives of the people of our communities. We'll be praying that we will be more bold in our service of those around us. We'll be praying tha

What If?

This morning I was reading in John 8 the story of the woman caught in an act of adultery. The religious leaders want to stone her for breaking their traditional laws, and also want to use this opportunity to trap Jesus into saying something that they can use against him. Of course, we know how this story ends. Jesus kneels down, protects this woman from the religious mob, and says the famous words "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her". They leave... and Jesus forgives her and tells her to sin no more. What if... well... what if we, as followers of Jesus, actually followed his example in this story? What if we were the type of people who protected sinners from religious people? What if we showed such love to people who have made poor choices in life that they would be able to give up those habits? What if we protected and loved them instead of condemned them? If Jesus didn't condemn her then why do we???

Living Properly

I've been doing a TON of reading this week. My family was away for the past 4 days and I've been home alone getting caught up on my homework for seminary. The brain is feeling a little squishy from all the intake :-) Part of one of my assignments was to study a verse found in Peter's first letter. I had to study a couple of the original Greek words to determine the true meaning of the verse... the assignment is finished and handed in... but the verse is just going over and over and over in my mind and in my heart. This is the verse: Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12) This verse is just really hitting home, especially after attending a seminar last week with author Hugh Halter and now reading his book, The Tangible Kingdom . The verse, and many others in the New Testament, tell us to be living out good lives so that other people outside of the